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The following article was posted on July 9th, 2014, in the New Times - Volume 28, Issue 50 [ Submit a Story ]

The following articles were printed from New Times [newtimesslo.com] - Volume 28, Issue 50

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Grover Beach settles on $48 million for a street bond

BY CLIFF MATHIESON

After some initial discord, the Grover Beach City Council settled on a $48 million bond measure to help fix the city’s failing roads. The voters will ultimately decide the fate of the measure in the Nov. 4 general election.

The City Council unanimously accepted the measure at its July 7 meeting, when members discussed the minutiae of the measure and locked in the debated $48 million level for the measure.

Though the council had tentatively decided on that number at its June 25 meeting, a few members had second thoughts about their decisions during the two weeks they had to mull it over.

“At the last meeting, council member [Bill] Nicolls was concerned that we may not get the support we need for the 48,” Mayor Debbie Peterson said. “Subsequently, I’ve had misgivings myself and wondered if maybe we shouldn’t bring it back to the $38 million.”

After initially voting against the $48 million at the June 25 meeting because he thought the sum would scare away voters, Nicolls came around to the number at the July 7 meeting. He said it would be better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

“I think we owe it to the voters to do this right,” Nicolls said.

Citizens who spoke at the meeting voiced their concerns about whether the Grover landowners would be able to afford the property tax imposed by the bond: $165 per $100,000 of assessed value a year, on average.

According to councilwoman Karen Bright, Grover has wanted to fix its streets for decades, but keeps running into the same problem: “There’s no money to fix the streets,” she said. “If this were easy, it would have been done a long time ago.”